Generation Beta
by DiamondNinja914
Summary: Tally Malpense wakes up on a helicopter with a strange Asian girl named Michelle Fanchu, who recently found out her parents are, in fact, not lawyers. Contains offspring of Otto/Laura, Wing/Shelby, Nigel/Mystery and Franz/Mystery. Possible mild language.
1. Chapter 1

Tally woke with a start, shaking her head to clear her pulsing headache. She opened her eyes and blinked against the bright light. She sat up straight to look out the small window next to her, to see miles and miles of ocean in all directions. Suddenly the world spun and she was gently shoved against the window. Looking out again, Tally saw that she was in the air, and, judging by the insistent thumping coming from above, she was in a helicopter.

"What the..." she whispered, trailing off. She'd been trying to break her cursing habit since she was eight. She tried to stand up and walk to the cabin, but she quickly found that she was harnessed to the seat by a complex cross between a seat belt and a pair of handcuffs.

"We appear to be in some sort of helicopter," said a sudden voice from across the aisle. Tally looked up, startled, to see a tall girl in tight jeans and a t-shirt that said "BORN TO KICK ASS." She was about half Asian, with long black hair tied back into a low ponytail with dozens of multicolored streaks. Her sleeves were rolled up to expose very... dense-looking muscles.

"Do you know where we are?" Tally asked, hoping for some answers, any answers, and still tugging on the harness.

"I thought you might, but apparently that is not the case. And quit messing with that. It's not going to just magically come open," the girl said, gesturing to the contraption. But when Tally looked at the girl's, it was open. Closer inspection indicated that it was operated by a lock, which the girl must have bypassed.

Suddenly the girl whipped out of her seat, leaning over Tally to look out the left-side window. After some adjustment, Tally saw what she was looking at. A huge volcano, seemingly active, with black smoke billowing out of the cone. Tally heard the girl mutter to herself something that sounded like: "So this is it."

"This is the first land I've seen since I woke up almost two hours ago," She said excitedly, with a twinge of deviousness. She tuned to face Tally. "I'm Michelle, by the way. Michelle Fanchu." She sat down in her seat and the seat belt reconnected herself. She sighed and held her left hand across the aisle. Tally, unable to reach, used her right hand to awkwardly shake hers.. "You?" She asked.

"Malpense. Natalya Malpense."

The helicopter started to descend into the volcano. Tally started to get nervous. She got jitters sometimes, when she was in small spaces or if her brother started to experiment with one of his... projects. She started fiddling with the hood of her jacket, which covered her long, pure-white hair that would fly out in all directions unless she kept it tied back in their usual pigtails. Dexter, her bother, had the same problem with his hair. Okay, _problem _wasn't exactly the right word. His jaunt face made him look fifteen, and he caught the attention of more than one girl in London who loved the "flyaway look." Peering down, the volcano seemed to have a landing pad, with a little under a dozen aircraft already on the ground. Gathered with a group of about twenty or so teens was a telltale shock of fiery red hair. Dexter stood on his toes, his bright blue eyes searching the group for something, without avail. It took a moment for Tally to realize he was looking for her.

Suddenly both harnesses unlocked and the doors swung open. All caution to the wind, Tally bolted from the craft, trying to keep herself from puking. She hated small spaces. Michelle stepped down and helped Tally to the rest of the group.

"Claustrophobic," she whispered wheezily to Michelle, who nodded her understanding. She squeezed her deep green eyes shut for a moment, then stood up. Regaining her strength, she shouted "Dexter!" so that he could find her. He walked over, trailed by a small bald boy with thick glasses.

"Oh, there you are, Tally," he said, with worry and relief. "Where are we?"

"I dunno. I just woke up, with a bad headache, locked into a seat in a helicopter with Michelle," she replied. Michelle nodded her agreement.

"Me too," said the bald boy. "Well, the other person was Dexter, not Michelle."

"Oh, my God!" Michelle exclaimed. "Zach! You were taken too!" Apparently the two knew each other.

"Anyways," Zach continued, "There was another person that came up tome after we got off of the helicopter and introduced himself as Tahir Kahn the Fifth, and I haven't seen him since. Good riddance, in my opinion." He paused for a moment, and Dexter took the opportunity to speak.

"These people don't look too friendly." He gestured to the guards, and then to the huge statue of a fist crushing the globe, sitting atop a titanium stand etched with the words "DO UNTO OTHERS." Zach and Michelle looked at each other. Like they knew what it meant. Tally almost asked about it, but Michelle interrupted.

"So, Zach, this is Natalya Malpense." she said, raising an eyebrow on the last word. Zach inhaled suddenly.

"I go by Tally. And this is Dexter Malpense. My brother." Tally watched their reactions. Zach already knew Dexter's last name, but Michelle fought to keep her usual calm and friendly expression.

"Ah... do you guys happen to be... twins?" Michelle tried to look casual, but she kept frantically checking to see Zack's expression.

"Yeah. Fraternal. Obviously. Why?" Dexter asked simply.

"Oh, nothing. We just thought you guys looked like-"

"You were the same age! So we thought the possibility of you being twins was likely." Michelle finished what Zach was trying to say. Or covered what he was going to say. "Where are you guys from?" She asked, still acting calm and friendly. Sortof.

"Scotland," Dexter said at the same time as Tally said "London." Shoot.

"Sorry... I mean we were in Scotland when we were taken but we're actually from London." Dexter looked at me with a clear message of _WHY ON EARTH DID YOU TELL THEM WHERE WE'RE FROM?_ But Tally had no reason not to trust them. Not yet.

"So," Michelle gave Zach a meaningful look, "were you in Scotland with your parents?"

"No," Tally said. "Dex just wants to be a movie star and go to faraway places. He also likes to practice for his future career. We've never left England." This seemed to faze them a bit.

"You don't go anywhere? Ever? Why?" Zach looked a bit concerned. He hesitated a moment before asking: "Don't your parents ever take you anywhere?"

Tally was about to explain that they had no parents, that they had lived in St. Sebastian's Orphanage since the day they were found on its doorstep thirteen years ago, only a few months old. Mrs. McReedy, the sixtyish woman who had run the place for the past forty years, always told them that their birthday, the day they were found, was a special day. But she never told them why September twenty-ninth was so significant. Or why she always choked over the name "Malpense."

All of a sudden an enormous boy with a thick German accent came in and butted into the conversation.

"Nic!" Michelle exclaimed. "You too?" Zach just walked over and stood by him and they started chatting quietly.

"Who's he?" Tally asked. She felt left out, like she was brought here by accident in place of another person.

"Niclas Argentblum. My parents, his dad, and Zach's dad... and my godparents all went to school together."

"Oh," Tally said. "And what's his last name?" She gestured to Zach.

"Darkdoom," Michelle said. Dex succeeded in concealing his laughter, but Tally didn't. She let out a long snort, like the little geek she really was. Such a short boy, with no hair and thick glasses, had the last name _Darkdoom_.

"Stop it!" Michelle scolded. "His father is Nigel Darkdoom." As if that meant anything to the twins. Whoever Nigel Darkdoom was, they had never heard of him.

Nic joined the conversation again. "It is not being uncommon for one to not know Zach's father." Michelle inhaled shakily, the friendly calmness gone from her face.

"I just thought..." She trailed off. Zach made her point for her.

"Their last name is Malpense, Nic."

Maximilian Nero prepared for his third speech of the day. He did not need to review it in his head, it was the same speech he had given four times per year for the past sixty years. He straightened his customary black jacket and red cravat. He turned to the couple in their thirties standing behind him.

"So here we are. The Alpha stream." He smiled. The woman was wearing a long green dress that contrasted sharply with her red hair, but matched her green eyes perfectly. It barely covered the long scar that ran down the length of her back from that fateful mission fourteen years ago.

Shortly after her graduation from H.I.V.E., the woman, Laura, had gone on a short recon mission that turned out to be a trap. She had barely escaped with her life, after being shot in the stomach, then nearly crushed. Even though she was rushed immediately to a G.L.O.V.E. hospital, she was rendered childless and lost the twins she had been carrying. She spent the next part of her life helping to run the technological empire she and her husband had established. Now a major world power, the couple had returned to H.I.V.E. to see the incoming Alpha class, partly because their goddaughter was part of it, but Nero knew that the other part was that the twins would have been just the right age to attend this year.

"Twenty-three years ago today," said the man. He had piercing blue eyes and snow-white hair that stuck out in all directions. What he said was true. Twenty-three years ago the two had stood in the launch bay, along with Shelby Trinity, Wing Fanchu, Nigel Darkdoom, and Franz Argentblum. And yet little about the school had changed.

They had a new AI, Butler, but he had been "affectionately" renamed by the students as "The Snob." Interestingly enough, Butler had actually responded to it. With a twinge Nero remembered the previous AI, H.I.V., who had gone sometimes by "Big Blue." He'd only been active for a little over two years before he gave his life for the man in front of him, Otto Malpense, once an Alpha student who had been in grave danger from Overlord, the first G.L.O.V.E. AI, a complete and utter failure.

"It's time. I will return in a moment." Nero turned and gave his customary speech, filled with exaggerated gesticulations and flashy special effects in the background. He finished with explaining to the students that they would be given a tour of H.I.V.E. by one of its staff. He walked off.

Suddenly, he got a message that Professor Kahn had fallen ill, and he could no longer give the Alphas the introduction. Laura smiled for a moment before regaining her composure. Everything was going as planned. She walked forward and whispered something in Nero's ear.

"Of course, are you sure you remember the way?" Nero was kidding. There was no doubt that Otto and Laura were still fully capable of navigating the school with twenty-four teenagers in tow. Otto still probably had the tour memorized.

They led the new recruits the briefing room four, discreetly waving to the three shadows that peeled themselves from the cavern wall. The shadows walked over to Nero and began the annual student recount.

The first shadow, Natalya, code-named Raven had been working for G.L.O.V.E. since she was a young teenager, thirty-five years before. But the same technology that kept Nero looking healthy at ninety kept her fit and identical to the state she was in when twenty years ago she had guarded students Malpense, Brand, Fanchu, and Trinity. She and Nero had been close friends for a long time.

The next shadow was a tall, blonde woman named Shelby. She had been under Raven's protection while she had been in the Alpha Stream. Actually, she and Laura had been roommates. She had one child, Michelle Fanchu.

The last shadow was an even taller Asian man named Wing Fanchu. He had, years ago, been Otto Malpense's roommate. The four, Otto, Laura, Wing, and Shelby, had been an inseparable team during their stay at the school. Together, they had accomplished seemingly impossible tasks, and still often kept in touch. Wing was the father of Michelle Fanchu.

Nero brought up the screen that showed the picture, taken minutes before, of all of the students gathered in the launch bay. He asked the trio to identify each student, occasionally asking questions.

"Tahir Kahn V."

"Niclas Argentblum."

"Zachary Darkdoom."

"Hey, look! There's Michelle!" Shelby exclaimed. Nero looked skeptical.

"I didn't know she was accepted into the Alpha stream. What did she do?" He asked. Wing and Shelby looked at each other, silently conversing in a matter of moments.

"We do not actually know what she did to even be considered, let alone accepted," Wing said.

"Which is... come to think of it, quite scary. We were simply informed about three weeks ago that she had been accepted, and not to be alarmed when she disappeared," Shelby added. Nero looked at Raven, who looked at Shelby and Wing. She started a bit shakily.

"You two were a bit... sloppy."

TWO MONTHS AGO

Mrs. Lafayette stood at the front of the class. She was a history teacher, and her class was now in to the Jackson unit. She had just finished explaining that they would be putting on a mock trial regarding whether or not President Jackson was guilty of genocide.

"I need volunteers for prosecution attorney!" She called out to her class, who had already taken the five seconds she had used to retrieve her notebook to start talking loudly amongst themselves.

"Anyone? Or should I assign random people?" She knew they weren't listening, and took the opportunity to scribble down the names of her worst students. "Defense attorney!" Michelle's hand shot up, along with that of Zach... Darkdoom. What an awful name. Of course, saying that out loud would get her fired. She scribbled down those names, too. The role of Andrew Jackson went to Niclas Argentblum.

Bing!

The bell rang. A nice, melodic sound that signified the end of the last period of the week. A time when she could finally get away from the little imbeciles. Speaking of imbeciles...

"You! You! And you too!" She shouted, pointing at Michelle, Nic, and Zach. She never referred to her students by their first names; that brought on raised self-esteem. "Come see me once you've finished packing!" The trio reluctantly made their way over to her desk.

"You there," she said to Michelle. "Your shirt is entirely inappropriate for school. You will come to school on Monday wearing a shirt that conforms to regulation. You will also have this signed by your parents. Both of them," she spat handing the girl a slip of paper that only required one signature.

"And you." She turned to Nic. "If I catch you eating in my class again I will have you SUSPENDED!" She had sounded almost... calm until the last word. Nic, startled, took the paper thrust at him.

"And now... you." She looked at Zach. She hated him the most. His goofy glasses, his idiotic surname, his habit of doubting her recount of historical events. "I could have you expelled for what you did." He looked confused. She walked over to the space between his and Michelle's seat. She picked up a drawing from the floor. It was a caricature of Mrs. Lafayette herself, writing on the front of the chalkboard the words YOU ARE ALL INSOLENT LITTLE ANIMALS. It may be what she thought, but she had never written it down nor spoken it.

" And how do you know that he drew it?" asked Michelle, with a defiant expression on her face. She did not even let Mrs. Lafayette answer. "You found it on the _floor._ Any of the other... 'insolent little animals' could have drawn this and left it. You're just blaming Zach because you're an idiot." Michelle easily hid the fact that she herself had drawn the picture.

"Give me that referral I just handed you," said the teacher. She took the paper, and rewrote it to further inform her parents that she had called a teacher an idiot. The trio promptly turned and left.

When Michelle got home, her mother was cooking dinner.

"Mom! I'm home!" She walked into the kitchen. "Hello."

"Japanese," said her mother.

"Konichiwa."

"Spanish."

"Hola."

"Hungarian."

"Szia."

The routine continued for several minutes, cycling through Frech, Czech, Chinese, Russian, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, and twenty-three others. Once they were finished, Michelle's mother put the casserole she had been preparing into the oven.

"Your father and I have a business trip this weekend. We're leaving in a few minutes. Take the casserole out in an hour and a half, and do not, repeat, DO NOT invite ANY friends over, male or female. We will return on Tuesday. Try to stay here for as much as possible. Any visits to friend's houses must be strictly school-related. If any trouble comes up, call Laura and she will be here within the hour. Understood?"

Michelle's parents were lawyers.

"I said, is that understood?" Her mother switched from fun to control freak at the drop of a hat.

"Yes, Mom."

"Spanish."

"Si."

"Hungarian."

"Igen."

And so the process started all over again. When they were finished, Michelle told her mother about how they were starting mock trials in history, and how her team was already considering the insanity plea.

"An excellent idea," commented her mother. "That is used in 26% of all court cases, and succeeds in 54% of those."

After Michelle finished her homework, she started researching the insanity plea, and how it was usually done. She came to a page that discussed the statistics, and was about to close it when she noticed an interesting bit of text.

It said that the insanity plea was used in less that one percent of all court cases, and only succeeded in 24% of those. She checked the sources. Double checked with Harvard Law.

Mom had used the insanity plea just last month. And won. How on earth could she have possibly gotten such information wrong?

Michelle walked to the kitchen, but her mother was not there. She searched the whole house before realizing that her parents must have already left. Without signing her referral.

She noticed something on the floor. A picture. She was in the master bathroom, standing right in front of her parent's closet. Looking at the slip of paper, she recognized the card her father carried around in his pocket. It was of her parents, and her godparents, when they were in their teens. Her father said it had been taken when they were in school together. But this version was different, and it showed not only their faces but also the tops of what they were wearing. Black jumpsuits with silver embroidery on the breast pocket, a symbol of a fist crashing down on a wireframe globe.

Michelle noticed that the door to her parent's closet was open, and poking out from behind one of her mother's dresses was a safe. Alarm bells rang in her head as she recognized the same fist and globe symbol on one side. She ran over, all caution to the wind, and grazed a finger over the strange insignia.

Suddenly, a keyboard and tiny screen popped out of nowhere. It asked for a password. She keyed in: michelle. That was every password in the house, from the silent alarm to the garage door opener. It wasn't long enough. She tried her full name, xiumeimichellefanchu, and it worked. The clothes on one side of the closet disappeared, as if they had been only holograms. A door slid open on the back wall.

She walked into a dimly lit room, with four huge filing cabinets, and along the walls there were lighted compartments with various equipment and body suits inside. Walking to the compartment on the far left, she recognized one of the black jumpsuits like the ones from the picture. A patch on the shoulder identified its owner as SHELBY TRINITY.

Michelle carefully removed it from its hanger. She visually inspected the room, to find no hidden cameras, and tried it on out of sheer curiosity. It fit like a glove. She returned it to its place and moved to the first filing cabinet. In the front of the first file was a disk, an old-fashioned CD. She inserted it into a slot on the wall beneath a large TV, and the fist and globe symbol appeared over the words DO UNTO OTHERS. The picture changed to that of a huge volcano on an island, billowing smoke. A male narrator began speaking.

The screen cycled through pictures of waterfalls, kids in variously colored uniforms shooting lasers, and older teenagers being handed diplomas by a strange man in a pressed suit. But the sound broke off after about two seconds, and Michelle was forced to just watch in utter confusion.

One thing she noticed, though, was that a small number of teens were wearing black jumpsuits identical to the one she had just tried on. Wherever this place was, her parents, and her godparents, had gone there.

She returned to the filing cabinet and placed the antique CD back in its case. The next file was a single sheet of paper.

STUDENT NAME: SHELBY TRINITY

DATE OF BIRTH: 11/14/95

PLACE OF BIRTH: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

CHILD OF G..E. MEMBER?: NO

SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT?: NO

STREAM: ALPHA

REASON FOR INVITATION: STUDENT IS "THE WRAITH."

SKILLS: STEALTH AND INFILTRATION

That was it. That was all it said. Thinking back, the only place Michelle had ever heard the term "the Wraith" was in math class once, when her teacher had mentioned a diamond thief who had never left any trace of their visit except the obvious absence of the jewel, and a four word thank-you note in its place. Of course, the possibility of her mother being this person was absurd. The Wraith had been active almost twenty-three years ago, and had been active for five years, which would mean that her mother would have been eight years old when she started. The idea was laughable. This paper must have been referring to something else.

Skipping forward a few pages, Michelle came across a laminated certificate.

Congratulations, _Shelby Trinity_, you have been granted the rank of _ G.L.O.V.E. Operative_ !

Attached to the certificate was another, official-looking paper.

NAME: TRINITY, SHELBY MICHELLE

CONSIDERED FOR RANK OF: G.L.O.V.E. OPERATIVE

RECCOMENDED BY: OPERATIVE RAVEN

CLEARANCE OF RECCOMENDER: BETA BLACK

The next part made Michelle choke on the Red Bull she had been drinking.

CONSIDERED FOR OPERATIONS TYPE: ASSASSIN


	2. Chapter 2: Epic Misunderstanding

Assassin? This made no sense. Michelle's mother was a lawyer. She had dozens of fancy certificates hanging in her office. And yet here was another certificate. The fact that it had been kept secret only made it more important than the rest.

PRIMARY TRAINING: STEALTH AND INFILTRATION

SECONDARY TRAINING: HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT

Michelle couldn't take any more. She closed the file and grabbed a random folder, searching for any bit of her mother to cling to. Because she certainly didn't recognize the woman mentioned on this page. The folder she opened was labeled _LAURA SCIENCE PROJECTS_, and it contained another CD. This one actually had audio.

_"Is this thing on?" _

A girl walked in front of the camera. She looked very familiar. She had red hair pulled back into pigtails and bright green eyes. She wore one of the black jumpsuits that she had seen in the picture. She had a strong Scottish accent. Michelle didn't have to look at her name tag to know that she was her godmother, and her name was Laura Malpense, only back then her last name was Brand.

_"Ok... Hello! My name is Laura Brand and today I will be showing you my hoverboots! I made them in the lab the other day for our semester technology project, and I volunteered my roommate Shelby to demonstrate them for us."_

Another girl walked onscreen. Needless to say, she was wearing another black uniform. Her long blonde hair was tied into a high ponytail that nearly fell to her waist. She had great muscles, and her accent betrayed that she had never spoken a word outside of American English. This had to be about twenty years ago, which would make the name of this girl Shelby Michelle Trinity.

_"Uh... Shel? You should probably put on a pair of grapplers, just in case."_

Laura looked nervous, to say the least. A huge kid in a blue uniform handed Shelby two devices, which she strapped around her wrists. They looked like bulky handguns with three-way hooks spurting out the end. The kid in blue walked off. Laura held up what looked suspiciously like a repurposed detonator.

_"On my mark... three... two... one... MARK!"_

Laura squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the button. Shelby shot up into the sky, and the camera followed her as she became swallowed in a huge cavern above. All of a sudden, though, the bright lights that came from her boots flickered, and she began to fall. Michelle gasped, even though she knew that she herself wouldn't be here today if something severe had happened. Suddenly, Shelby, whom the cameraman had the decency to zoom in on, raised her right hand and fired the contraption on her wrist.

A thin cable shot up from the device, catching on the ceiling and allowing Shelby to swing higher up, now at least in control. She released the cable and flipped dozens of times on her descent, landing soundlessly on the ground on one knee, one hand on the floor. She looked up towards Laura, murder in her eyes.

_"Brand, I am going to KILL YOU!"_

She screeched the last syllable, and just then the camera cut off. After a few seconds, though, the picture came back again. Laura was standing in the same cavern again, speaking a bit nervously.

_"Hello, I'm Laura Brand, and for my semester project I made hoverboots. I'm not very agile, so Shelby Trinity is going to demonstrate them for us. Ready, Shel?"_

Shelby came back on again, wearing a different set of boots this time. It looked like Laura had had to go back to the drawing board and make a new pair. Shelby's expression was full of venom as she strapped on the grapplers.

_"Ready."_

_ "All right. On my mark... three... two... one... MARK!"_

The rest of the experiment seemed to go as planned. Shelby was able to glide around the floor of the cavern as if she were wearing skates. Twice she came within six inches of Laura before twitching off into a different direction. Michelle had never known that her mother was so graceful. She'd always been a very lean woman, and this seemed to show where she had gotten the muscle.

Michelle looked down into her can of Red Bull and realized with dismay that it was empty. She took the CD out of the player and returned it to its previous place in the folder. She left the room and almost tripped over the safe she'd seen on the way in. It was extremely old-fashioned, with a combination lock. Most likely, it had been used because a standard electronic one could be hacked. Luckily, though, Michelle had read a book on lockpicking, and had mastered the technique years ago. She reached into her back pocket and took out a pair of what looked like reading glasses. However, when opened, they were a high-quality lockpicking set. After a few minutes, the safe popped open. An electronic device glued to the inside started beeping, but Michelle didn't care.

Inside the safe were billions of dollars in diamonds.

Thousands of tiny ones inlaid in jewelry, and still more that were display-style, too huge to be worn. This confirmed the idea about the Wraith. This must be everything that her mother had stolen as a child.

Michelle ran back into the strange room and tore into the supply cabinet, popping in the first disk she found. It, again, took place in the huge cavern, but the camera was zoomed out far enough so that one could see the huge pit of liquid next to the ledge that the previous video had taken place at. The pool had dozens of glowing objects floating on it. Thousands of kids were gathered on the sides of the pit, and it looked like some sort of competition was going on. A commanding female voice filled the room.

_"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the final round of grappling in the sixteenth annual competition here at H.I.V.E.. This match is between accommodation blocks seven and four, who have each previously defeated the eight other blocks. Remember that there is to be no assistance from the audience. Yes, I am looking at you, you know who you are."_

The camera was now showing the speaker of this monologue. It was a short, muscular woman with a long scar along one cheek. She was wearing a skintight bodysuit of some sort and on her back were twin katanas. Michelle thought she may have seen this person before in her very early childhood, but she couldn't seem to remember anything about her. She had a slight Russian accent.

_"For those of you who do not know, the rules are as follows: each team will collect a buoy from __the water and deliver it in the opposite team's receptacle, then come back to their own side in order to score again. First team to fifty points wins. If a player is knocked into the water, they may not come back into the game. If both players from the a team are knocked into the water, the other team wins by default."_

The pit was huge. To cross it fifty times would take huge amounts of time. Michelle was beginning to understand, though, that the point was to force the players to knock their opponents into the pool.

_"The contestants are as follows: representing accommodation block four are Aaron Block and William Tackle of the sixth-year Henchman Stream, and representing accommodation block seven are Wing Fanchu and Shelby Trinity of the fourth-year Alpha Stream."_

Michelle was shocked that her parents had participated in such a brutal sport, but then again, why would they have even kept the video if it had been a few random students at the finals of some random game? The camera then slid across to show two humungous boys in blue uniforms with six dots on the collar. Their nametags read AARON BLOCK and WILLIAM TACKLE. Presumably they were of this "accommodation block four," whatever that was. Next the screen panned over to the opposite side of the pit, where she saw a sixteenish-year-old version of her parents in their black uniforms. They looked nervous at the thought of having to face the two monstrous enemies. The camera went back to the Russian woman.

_"Laura, would you do the honors?"_

Laura walked onscreen and took the microphone.

_"On my mark... three... two... one... MARK!"_

She smiled at the woman and gave the microphone back, running through the crowd to her original position in the front row next to an equally short boy with snow white hair facing away from the camera. The contestants dived off of the ledge and shot what they called "grapplers" into the ceiling over a hundred feet above. Just then, the stupid DVD player started skipping around, and it only showed a few seconds at a time before skipping forward a few minutes. Twice, though, Michelle saw each of her parents use some sort of martial arts skill to knock their huge enemies into the water. When it finally stopped, Michelle saw the black-clad duo being carried on the shoulders of the crowd. A huge screen, which before had shown the fist-and-globe logo, suddenly changed to display the words SHELBY AND WING KICK SORRY ACCOMMODATION BLOCK FOUR BUTT. The Russian lady, upon seeing this, looked down into the crowd.

_"Mr. Malpense, put the screen back to the G.L.O.V.E. logo."_

She didn't bother to say please. The screen said NO.

_"Malpense."_

The camera shifted over to the boy Laura had been standing next to. He was moderately small, with flyaway white hair and piercing blue eyes. He, too, was wearing a black uniform. His name was Otto Malpense, and he was Michelle's godfather. He sighed and closed his eyes, his head dropping down to his chest. To Michelle's surprise, the picture on the screen on the cavern wall reverted to the fist-and-globe logo.

Diabolus Darkdoom was organizing his desk when his assistant came in with some startling news.

"Sir, we have a level-five emergency." Darkdoom started to stand up, prepared to evacuate, but she stopped him. "It's not a physical threat. The daughter of operatives Trinity and Fanchu has discovered the existence of G.L.O.V.E." She looked surprisingly calm.

"And? Aren't all H.I.V.E. students supposed to learn of its existence in their first week?" He didn't see a problem with the situation.

"She isn't a student. She was due to be taken next month." Now Darkdoom understood. "Should I call in a squad?"

"No, no certainly not. She's thirteen, for God's sake. Let me think about it. What stream is she supposed to be in?"

"Well, she's on the consideration list for the Alpha Stream, but she hasn't been confirmed."

"Why not? Does she show any special skills?" It was the assistant's turn to be surprised. The security of the world's only league of villains depended on this girl.

"She knows over thirty languages, she can pick locks, and she has advanced combat skills. She is also a bit conceited." A typical Alpha trait.

"Well then, put her in for this year's class. I have no idea why she hadn't been accepted in the first place anyways. Take her a couple of weeks early, and keep her sedated until she can join the rest of her class. Sooner, if she tries to confront her parents about it."

"All right, then." Diabolus Darkdoom's ways were a bit off, but he'd been running the League for the past twenty years, and he knew what he was doing.

Michelle was eating breakfast when she finally confronted her mother. Sortof.

"Mom, do you have a degree?" she asked, not wanting to directly say, you know, "hey Mom, I found out you're a serial killer!" This was just a test, to see if she might make some reference to her _real _job.

"Of course, Michelle. I couldn't practice without one. I have a PhD. Why?" Michelle hadn't expected this. What to say...?

"Uhh..." She searched for an answer. She didn't know what would happen if her mother found out about her knowledge. Most likely, it would be bad.

"Are you thinking about becoming a lawyer?" Phew. This would cover her up, at least for a little while.

"I'm really getting into this trial thing, Mom." Not a total lie.

Michelle's mother laughed. Not because she was happy, but because her daughter had been on the consideration list for the Alpha Stream since the day she was born. The chances of her becoming a lawyer were so far into the negatives you couldn't even see them with a pair of those fancy robotic eyes they made at Malpense, Inc.

After school, Zach and Nic came home with Michelle for final trial preparations. On the refrigerator was a note.

_Michelle,_

_ Gone till Thursday. Leftovers in oven- just turn it on. Call Laura if needed. NO FRIENDS. _

_ Mom + Dad_

Yeah, whatever. Too late, they were already here.

It had been two weeks since her discovery of the room behind the closet, which she now called "the basement." Since, she'd gone back multiple times to learn more. So far, she had constructed a rough map of the situation in her head.

First and foremost, Michelle's parents worked for an organization called G.L.O.V.E., the Global League of Villainous Enterprises. It consisted of a leader, someone named Mr. Darkdoom, a ruling council of 7-10 supervillains, and countless operatives that did the League's bidding. Also, there were thousands more who worked for the council members' empires. Two of these were Otto and Laura Malpense, and another was a man named Maximilian Nero.

Nero had founded the H.I.V.E., or Higher Institute of Villainous Education. On her third trip to what she called "the basement," Michelle had found a letter to her parents congratulating them that their child had been accepted into the Alpha Stream. There were four of these "Streams," Henchman, the largest group, and also the most populated, wore blue uniforms. Political/Financial, the second largest, of future politicians, rarely had any friends without an ulterior motive, and wore gray. Then there was Science and Technology, who were social in their own nerdy way, and who wore white. Finally, the Alpha Stream, in black, was the smallest. They usually formed their own little cliques, sometimes called "squads," who hung together for most of their H.I.V.E. career. Her parents and godparents, as well as two others, had been in one of these "squads." They were so elite that they had sometimes been called upon by G.L.O.V.E. for special missions. They were led and defended by a Russian woman who went simply by "Raven," and she was also the personal protector of Maximilian Nero.

Three months before the start of their third year, Nero had gotten kidnapped, and Raven was thought dead. Then, a few days before their advancement to the next grade, four of the squad had been taken by Nero's replacement and would have been killed had Raven not intervened. The five lived temporarily on a war submarine called the Megalodon, owned by a man named Mr. Darkdoom, now G.L.O.V.E. leader, while they worked towards the rescue of Dr. Nero. However, it turned out to be a trap. The sole purpose of his capture was to lure Otto Malpense out of the school, in order to, as Michelle understood it, either make him the next leader of G.L.O.V.E., or for the former leader to transfer his brain into Otto's body in order to live, and therefore stay in power, longer. But the report on the operation had been blotted out at some points, and Michelle was unable to understand exactly what went on.

"So... shall we get to work?" Michelle asked, not surprised at Nic's next question.

"Is there being anything to eat?" Nic ate all the time. Also, he had recently moved here from Germany, and his English wasn't exactly perfect.

"Casserole. In the oven. As usual." The three managed to chew in silence for an entire five minutes before being disturbed.

Suddenly, there were voices outside. A few men, shouting in a foreign language.

"Who's outside?" Nic froze midchew, before swallowing again and inhaling the rest of his plate.

"Oh, Michelle said a few weeks ago that she had new neighbors who spoke French. This is probably them," Zach said casually, reaching for the last portion of the casserole before Nic could get to it.

Michelle listened for a moment. She froze. "Get under the table, now," she ordered in a whisper.

"What?" Zach asked, surprised at her request.

Michelle knew what they didn't: that the men outside weren't speaking French. They were speaking Italian.

"Three of them total. Inside."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Only one. If we can knock her out early on, we're good as done."

"Who are they?"

"Michelle Fanchu, Niclas Argentblum and Zachary Darkdoom."

"Darkdoom as in... Darkdoom?"

"Yes. THAT Darkdoom."

Michelle hustled Nic and Zach out of the dining room and into the hall closet, just when the first man appeared behind her. But when she turned around, no one was there. Taking the chance of looking like a total idiot, she aimed a powerful roundhouse kick to somewhere at her eye level, striking one man's head. When he fell to the ground, he became visible, wearing a suit that Michelle recognized. Her parents each had a set in the basement. Michelle closed her eyes and used her hearing. The men were probably trained to be silent, but this was hardwood floor, for God's sake.

She flew across the room, grabbed a pen, whirled around and threw it in the direction of the closet. Another suit was breached, causing it to reveal that its occupant was clutching his leg. Michelle hadn't wanted to kill anyone. She heard the last one running towards her and stopped him easily with a strong elbow to the helmet, causing it to crack, and then a clean swipe of her foot along the floor, causing him to fall and hit his head, unconscious.

Michelle let Nic and Zach out of the closet, who immediately began interrogating her about "?" She calmly explained that her parents had been putting her through martial arts classes since she was four. That left "Whoaretheywhatdidtheywant?"

Obviously these men were from G.L.O.V.E.; that was obvious. At first she thought that she and her friends were to be taken to H.I.V.E., but that wasn't supposed to happen for another five weeks.

Just then it hit her. Zach. Michelle remembered what had happened to her godfather, and realized that the head of the League's name was Mr. Darkdoom. She didn't know what his first name was, but she knew that he had been evil his whole life, and just might have cloned himself for the sake of a few extra organs.

"I have to tell you guys something."

Laura was on her way home from her office at what appeared to be a normal computer company when she received the call. It was automated. _"This is a courtesy call to inform you that the premises of the Fanchu household have been breached without proper identification. The trespassers attempted to disable the alarm before entering the household. Press one to view the security video."_

Laura pressed one without hesitation. She watched, unblinking, as the three armor-clad figures entered the house through the skylight. However, there was no feed inside the house. She immediately called Shelby to make sure everything was all right.

"We're not home. Michelle's there by herself." Shelby sounded panicked.

"I'll be there in five minutes," said Laura, pressing a button under the steering wheel that readied the car's missiles.


	3. Chapter 3: Such A Douche

Michelle gave Zach and Nic the short version. She was about to show them the basement when she heard a car stop outside, and ushered them out the back door. She was dragging the unconscious bodies of the three operatives into a closet when she heard the front door unlocked and an urgent voice call her name. At first she thought that it was her mother, but she remembered that her parents were on a "business trip."

"Michelle! It's Laura! Your mom called and said she wanted the exterminators to come next week, but they accidentally- oh, there you are." She stopped in front of Michelle, who had barely finished locking the closet door. "The exterminators accidentally moved the appointment up, so you're going to come with me to my house for the next two days or so. OK?"

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Michelle remembered that Laura, in her childhood had been one of the most promising students in the highest class at H.I.V.E., and the girl was sure, for a moment, that this had just been about something supervillain-related. Which, come to think of it, it probably was. She went to her room and packed up three days' worth of clothes, along with as many cans of Red Bull as would fit in her bag. She walked out to the car to find Laura already waiting, talking to someone urgently on her video cell. But as soon as she saw Michelle approaching, she hung up. Quickly.

Michelle had been to the Malpense household on many occasions throughout her life, and simply kicked off her shoes at the front door, then plopped down on the couch and fell asleep. When she woke up, she heard that Otto was home, and he, along with Laura, were apparently talking via video call to Michelle's parents.

"So... do you guys know if you're taking Michelle this year?" She recognized her godfather's voice. There was a pause on the other end of the conversation. Then a man's voice, thick with a Japanese accent, filtered through to the living room. Michelle's father.

"No, they said there would be a conflict of interest. Raven has to."

"I see. So who are you taking?" This was Laura.

"A bunch of Henchmen, along with a handful of Techies, and about half of the Alphas. The only name I recognized was Tahir Kahn the fifth." Michelle's mother.

"As if the world needed another one," said Laura. She sounded like she was joking, but there was an undertone of nervous sadness.

"We weren't planning on discussing this year's intake with you two."

"Wing!"

"Do you want me to lie?" This was apparently between Michelle's father and mother.

"It's fine." A curt response from Otto.

"We just thought... because of the twins..." Her mother trailed off. This thoroughly confused Michelle. Twins? She listened for about ten minutes before discerning that Laura had once been pregnant with twins, who were supposed to be the same age as Michelle. Only Laura had had a miscarriage, as a complication of some incident that rendered her unable to have children.

It sounded like the four would be talking for awhile, so Michelle decided to do some snooping. She had no idea where the Malpenses would keep their important files, so she started in the office. There was a locked cabinet under a cluttered desk with a single tiny laptop with the MalInc logo on it. Michelle easily bypassed the lock on the cabinet. This time, though, instead of starting at the beginning, she opened the thin file marked _TWINS._

It was mainly a collection of medical records. The first was an ER report. Michelle scanned it, searching for anything substantial. _Patient has severe burns... gunshot to the lower back... both fetuses too severely damaged for salvation... _It sounded bad. Very bad.

Eventually Michelle came to a paper with the fist and globe logo on the heading. Finally, she thought. It was the text from a debriefing. By the end, Michelle was crying.

Franz Argentblum, heir of Argentblum Chocolates, had had some issues with the AI he had purchased to run the factory. Otto and Laura Malpense had been in the area, so they dropped in to take a look. When they arrived, Franz had explained that it was only able to process one task at once. Otto had entered the room, and all of a sudden it had started screaming at itself. Gradually, it died down to an argument, then just muttering to itself. Laura had decided to take a tour of the factory, and when she returned Otto was about to try to identify the problem when it stopped all of a sudden, and gone back to the same repetitive motions it had been doing before they had arrived.

Then, the whole factory crashed, from the robotic limbs of one of the machines suddenly turning and demolishing most of the room. Franz and Otto were alright, but Laura had been hit by a bullet from nowhere, and was being dragged by a dark form through the debris and out towards the front of the building, unconscious. Otto was able to somehow remotely take control of the stranfer's car and hit the assassin, before calling for an ambulance. When the assassin was unmasked, the face was of no one recognized. So they burned the body.

When they arrived at the hospital, the doctors were able to save Laura, but she lost the twins she was carrying, a boy and a girl.

Three days later, when Michelle's father came to pick her up from the Malpense house, she almost told him that she knew. She knew that in a matter of weeks, she would not see him for six years. Keeping her mouth shut was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. But she did, even when he questioned her repeatedly about why the door to the hall closet was busted straight out of the door. Over the coming weeks, six squads of G.L.O.V.E. operatives tried to capture her, without avail. Total, she killed four, permanently disabled twelve, and gave seven minor injuries that they at least recovered from.

One day, she was walking home from school when a shadow came up behind her. Michelle was about to run, but she recognized the Russian woman from the files in the basement.

"Michelle," she said, "my name is Natalya, but you may call me Raven. I am here to take you to H.I.V.E."

This was the last thing Michelle had expected. She'd thought they'd come with guns, maybe, or stun grenades. She thought she'd never see it coming. But here was Raven, the legendary assassin who took future supervillains to the Institute, who had simply come up with a friendly smile to introduce herself.

"You have two choices. One, I can inject you with this old-fashioned tranq, or we can do this the hard way." She drew back her long black coat to reveal a heavily modified pistol. "Either way, you're coming with me. I've been told we are going to get to know each other very well."

So Michelle was going to be her next apprentice. She'd been preparing herself for her arrival at H.I.V.E. for the past two months. She'd even attempted to wane herself off of Red Bull.

She extended her arm slowly. The last thing she saw was Raven grin at her, and she felt a stab in her wrist before blackness took over.

Raven finished her tale. Wing and Shelby looked shocked. Suddenly, a wild beeping came from Raven and Nero's watches.

"Oh, right. Pill time." Raven pulled an orange container from her pocket and popped three bluish capsules into her mouth. Nero did the same. It was FreezeFrame, as they called it, as opposed to the twelve-syllable-long name the lab techs had given it. Nero took it because he didn't trust anyone, except possibly Raven, to take over the school in the case of his death. She took it because she had found out at thirty-two that she was developing early stages of breast cancer, something not even G.L.O.V.E. scientists could cure. This kept her in her current state as long as she took it every twelve hours, as she had been for over twenty years.

Otto Malpense had found out about it, without knowing about the medication, and had decided to name his daughter after her. Until the accident.

"Butler," said Dr. Nero suddenly. "Who is that?" He was pointing to a figure towards the back of the group who was leaning in a seasick fashion against a redheaded boy. None of the other three recognized her, as some of the Alpha stream were always taken in by stray teams of operatives who happened to be in the area. The girl had a black jacket on, with the hood drawn over her head. The screen changed to a student profile.

NAME: MALPENSE, NATALYA LAURA

Next to this was a picture. It showed a rather awkward-looking girl with snow-white hair and bright green eyes, along with dozens of freckles. She was the spitting image of Laura Brand. Everyone stood in shock for a few seconds before Raven had the good sense to inquire about the redheaded figure beside her.

NAME: MALPENSE, DEXTER CYAN

"We have to stop that tour. Now," said Raven.

On the way to the briefing room, Tally kept close behind Michelle and kept her hood over her head. The woman with the red hair was walking quickly, peering around the halls with excitement. She'd heard her say that she had once attended this school when she was younger, and Tally supposed that she was simply excited to return. She couldn't imagine why; the tall man in the hangar had freaked her out, and she still felt airsick from the helicopter ride. The woman seemed nice enough, though, and she smiled a lot.

It was just another sad reminder that Tally would never know her mother.

Everyone sat around a large, polished black table surrounded by two dozen huge black armchairs. The room was dimly lit.

Tally looked at Dexter, who was chatting quietly with Michelle. He was telling her some stupid made up story about seeing a shark at the beach, and barely escaping with his life. Dexter always told extravagant tales that had nothing to do with anything. Particularly to girls. He came around to Tally's other side as they were seated.

"Your brother is _adorable,_" said Michelle. Typical. Of course, both of them had to be concerned with members of the opposite gender when they had just been, I dunno, kidnapped.

The redheaded woman removed an old-fashioned CD from a box and inserted it into a small box. A huge screen on the wall lit up, and the lights dimmed. Tally watched with growing suspicion. The other man with the black hat had ducked out of the room at the start of the presentation, and she hadn't seen him since. When the video finished, she realized the woman had not introduced herself, probably because she deemed so excited. Still, she looked familiar.

She took her PDA out of her pocket and typed up the phrase: DO YOU KNOW THAT WOMAN? She passed it to Dexter, who shook his head. She then showed it to Michelle, who typed back: MY GODMOM.

Tally was surprised. Michelle _knew _someone who had attended the school. It suddenly made her less trustworthy somehow. She said: WHAT"S HER NAME? Michelle hesitated before replying: TELL YOU IN A MINUTE. Why would she say that when it would be so much easier to just spell a name?

The woman said they were going to go see the quartermaster. Great. Just remind me that I am going to be stuck here for the next six years, she thought. Unless she found a way out….

The students rose and followed the woman out of the room. Michelle ran up ahead and tried to attract the woman's attention, and Tally followed.

"Laura!" Michelle whisper-shouted.

"Hey, that's my middle name," said Tally with a laugh. Michelle's eyes widened for a second, then she resumed her whisper-shouting.

"Not _now_, Michelle," scolded Laura. "You're not supposed to talk to me."

"It's a dire emergency!" But Laura had already walked ahead. She waved her hand and huge doors slid open to reveal a large monolithian room. The other man was arguing with an AI represented by a purple holographic wireframe face.

"Michelle, I swear I know that woman," Tally whispered.

"She's the co-owner of MalInc." Michelle studied her companion's expression, which fell. Tally didn't use those computers, their name suggested anything but safety.

"Oh…."

"Are you interested in computers?" Michelle asked. Yet another question with an ulterior motive; computer specialty ran on both sides of the Malpense family.

"Yes! It wouldn't really be much of a stretch to say that I'm married to my laptop." Tally looked a bit sheepish, before raising her head again in a clear signal that she was proud to be a nerd.

"Then what brand do you use?" MalInc laptops were the best that money could buy, and were used in practically every household in the Western Hemisphere, and most in the East, too.

"I make my own," Tally said simply. Laura addressed the group.

"Everyone! Could I have your attention please!" The group's loud chatter died down to nervous murmuring. "You are now going to be receiving your uniforms. Each of you will enter one of these stalls and change as quickly as you can, as we have a lot to do today." She paused. "This is Butler. He will assist you in anything you need here at school."

"But please, only ask me questions if absolutely necessary. I have a lot to do around here and I don't need to be bothered," Butler said in a high-pitched, whiny voice that irritated the ear like nothing else. If this AI was going to be watching over me for the next six years, Tally thought, then I am going to be miserable.

Unless she did something about it.

"Actually, you all can speak to Butler whenever you like. He is here for the sole purpose of your comfort and is obligated to do exactly that. And if he complains, I am sure there is something you can do about it," Laura said. Tally noticed that she hadn't said anything about contacting a trusted adult. Not that she would've in the first place. Laura shot a pointed look at Butler. At that point, Tally decided something.

President of MalInc Computers or not, Laura was her new hero.

Not that she'd had one in the first place. Tally made her way to an open stall and waited for something to happen. After a quick flash, like a camera, a jumpsuit slid into an open box on the wall. She took it out and inspected it, to find her name embroidered on the breast pocket.

She took her pill bottle out of her pocket and set it onto the side table next to her Suddenly, Butler appeared on a wall-mounted screen.

"Please put that into the receptacle as well." He looked at her sternly, and Tally felt disgusted by his whiny voice.

"No." She looked at him with the same stern expression.

"No possessions are allowed inside. You will please place the vial into the receptacle." Now he was making Tally angry.

"I said no." And she didn't think that Butler would appreciate the way she acted when she was angry.

Suddenly Laura came into the room.

"Is everything all right in here?" She looked at Tally, then Butler, then Tally again. She then raised her eyebrows in a clear expression of: "That was not a rhetorical question."

"I have to have my pills. And Stuck-Up here won't let me keep them." She resisted the urge to stick her out at him.

"She doesn't need them," was all Butler said. Laura looked at Tally, as if apologizing for his rudeness.

"The infirmary will supply any needs you may have. In the mean time, school rules say that you have to have the original container incinerated."

"Oh," Tally replied, and deposited the orange cylinder into the little hole in the wall.

"Not that you'll be needing them," Butler said with a sneer.

"If you know so much about me, you'll know that I have schizophrenia. And if I don't take my pills, I might accidentally kill someone or something," she said. Butler replied slowly, as if speaking to an idiot.

"But you don't have schizophrenia, do you? You said yourself that the pills don't stop the voices, that the only reason you take them is because at least they keep away the headaches." Then you must know that you're playing with fire, Tally thought.

She mentally flicked a booger at Butler, who winced. She did it again, before mixing up a few of his sub-routines so that whatever else he happened to be working on at the moment got messed up.

"If you would please stop that, Ms. Malpense. It's rather distracting when I have people messing with the important tasks I happen to be running." Laura looked confused.

"Not only am I a Mrs., not a Ms., but I do not possess my husband's unique abilities. So if you're looking to point fingers, there are thousands of devious young minds who are more likely than I to be messing with the systems." She looked stern, and a bit offended. Tally was now thoroughly confused.

"I'm not talking about, you I'm talking about your daughter," he said, spitting out the last word. Tally looked at Butler in surprise.

"You're such a jerk!" She said at the same time as Laura cried: "Is this some sort of sick joke?"

"Oh, yes. I forgot about your human stupidity." He had no pupils, but it was clear that he was rolling his eyes. "I don't understand why neither of you made the connection, but fine. Laura Malpense, meet your daughter, Natalya Malpense. Natalya, meet your mother. Are you happy now?" Tally looked at Laura. Laura looked at Tally at first with surprised happiness, then with contempt.

"My daughter was killed thirteen years ago." She looked at Butler, then Tally, then Butler again.

"Really, then? You think so? Why don't you take your hood off, Natalya?" Tally, confused, obliged, revealing her snow-white hair. Only then did she realize that Laura had the same deep green eyes as her.

_Find Dexter, _said the voice in her head. Oh, right. She ran around Laura and opened the door.

"DEXTER!" She screamed. He turned. "COME HERE NOW!" He trudged in an "I really have no idea who this person is" fashion toward their stall. The man in the hat, presumably Laura's husband, made his way over to see what the commotion was.

Tally turned back to Butler. "You know you're not suited to be in charge of a school, right?" He looked offended.

"Excuse me,but-"

"What is it this time, Tally?" Dexter looked like he had better things to do. Tally noticed Michelle standing next to where Dexter had been. That explained it.

_I can replace him,_ said the voice in her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked aloud.

_This is where I came from. _

"No, it's not. You came from my head. One day you just showed up." The man in the hat had joined them in the room. He stared at her curiously as blood slowly began to trickle from her nose.

"But I thought you said your name was Big Blue." Tally stared off into space as she conversed with her subconscious companion. A small gasp came from Laura. Outside, the group heard the voice of a woman with thick Russian accent call out to get their attention.

"If everyone could look up here please? Thank you. My name is Raven and I will be overseeing this tour. A situation has arisen that has prevented Mr. and Mrs. Malpense from completing it themselves, but life happens. Follow me, please. Yes, I mean everyone."

Dexter heard the sound of the group receding from the huge room. In the doorway stood a very tall Japanese man and an equally tall American woman. Both were wearing full suits of body armor, and each had a katana slung over their shoulder, mirroring each other. They watched with a sort of paralyzed interest.

Tally walked up to the screen and put her hand on it. She closed her eyes, and blood started pouring out of her nose and leaking out from under her eyelids. A few seconds later, Butler developed an uncomfortable expression before suddenly disappearing to be replaced be a nearly identical version, only blue. H.I.V. smiled at the group.

"Well, you've grown."


	4. Chapter 4: Mine

Tally opened her eyes and looked up. Around her were Otto, Laura, and Dexter, all staring at her. Dexter broke the silence.

"So you're _not_ schizo," he said. HIVEmind looked at him.

"Oh, hello, Dexter. I am glad I finally have the opportunity to express my contempt for your lack of fate in your sister." He looked calm, but Tally thought she saw a flash of a smile.

"Well, she hears voices, for God's sake. That's got to say something," he insisted. Otto spoke up with an expression that only barely showed composure.

"So, your sister has this ability but you don't?" HIVEmind cleared his throat.

"Girls mature faster than boys, Mr. Malpense. However, I do believe that your son has a few... unique abilities of his own."

"My..." Otto trailed off. The resemblance was rather obvious, but it was a bit difficult to process.

"Where's the bathroom?" Tally asked. HIVEmind put up an incomplete map of the school, which she absorbed before muttering "thanks..." and running out of the room. Otto leaned against the wall and closed his eyes while Dexter got caught up on the situation.

Once in the bathroom, Tally squeezed her eyes shut and accessed the school computer. A high, whiny voice came from behind her.

"Hey, you're the same color as me!" Butler looked surprised. She swiped him out of her vision. What he'd said was partially true. Her color changed from purple to green, depending on her mood. Big Blue had always said she was like someone named Cortana, a fictional AI from a video game called Halo. A few years ago, someone had created her for real and she now assisted in running the internet.

Tally searched the name "Malpense" on the database and came up with a few results. The first was MALPENSE, OTTO and she read his entire file. Looking at it, she determined that he must be her father. The next entry on the list was MALPENSE, LAURA. It was a full review of her career at GLOVE after she'd graduated. Apparently, the GLOVE leader was intending on retiring soon and she was one of the first in the running to replace him in a few month's time. The only person doing better than she was Otto. In all likelihood, the next leader would be one of the two.

She found her file from her academic career and read that, too. She then went back and clicked on her own file, to see how much they knew about her. After a few seconds, though, she was aware that there was someone else nearby. She looked around and spotted a tall form a few yards away. This person was a yellowish gold.

"How many AIs does it take to run one freaking school?" She called, walking over, her footsteps echoing in the silence.

"Oh, I'm not actually an AI. Not really. I assume you belong to one of the students?" He asked, clearly thinking she was just another program.

"I'm not a real AI either. I'm a person. I just got here today," Tally said.

"Malpense. Otto Malpense," said the figure, extending his hand.

"Tally." She shook his hand. He raised his eyebrow. "Tally Malpense."

Tally hadn't known that other people possessed her unique skill. Telling Mrs. McCreedy about it had just gotten her checked out by a shrink and landed with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Otto inhaled sharply.

"Where are you from?" He asked.

"London."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She looked down and took a deep breath. "You left me and my brother on the doorstep of the oldest orphanage in the country in the care of an old, nearly retarded woman who practically had a heart attack every time she looked at me!"

There was a long period of silence.

"You went to St. Sebastian's?" He sounded genuinely dumbfounded, and this confused Tally.

"Yeah."

"Is Mrs. McCreedy still there? Oh, wait. Yes she is, based on your description. I didn't put you there."

"What?"

"My wife had a miscarriage fourteen years ago with twins. Fraternal twins, whom we were going to name Natalya and Dexter. Or, rather, we thought she had a miscarriage." Then everything fell into place. HIVEmind had been in his head all along, then transferred himself out when they'd gone to the Argentblums'. Their AI had started arguing, not with itself, but with him, and then when Laura had showed up HIVEmind had escaped into Tally's brain. It just happened to be on the same day as a previously planned attempt on Laura's life. Or rather, the lives of her children.

Tally heard banging on the stall door and was forced to pull out. She made her way back to the monolithian room and met back up with the others. When she arrived, Otto was looking at her.

_ I didn't actually have to use the bathroom,_ she thought, projecting the idea into his brain. He looked shocked for a moment, then he just nodded with a little smile.

The six of them walked out of the room. Tally felt weird being the only person in her head.

_It'll be like that for awhile. But I'll still be able to talk to you if you need help. Just as long as you stay on the island, _came the voice of Big Blue.

Tally was a bit dismayed. Staying on the island didn't sound very appealing to her. But she wouldn't leave without Dexter, who at this point didn't seem comfortable leaving without Michelle, who probably wouldn't leave without Nic and Zach.

They were told they'd have to catch up with the rest of the group, else they someday become completely lost in the network of caverns. As they walked the armored couple handed them small black PDAs.

"You guys missed the instructions for these, but they're practically indestructible. If you go anywhere without them you'll get in huge trouble. If you have any questions, just flip it open and it will give you a direct connection to HIVEmind, who is available 24/7," said the blonde woman.

They caught up inside a huge room filled with waterfalls, computers, pool tables, et cetera. The Russian woman was still talking.

"Welcome to Accommodation Block 7. This is where you will all be living. As you see, students from all four streams reside here, and I would like to tell you all that you should, under no circumstances, make fun of the Henchmen for their stupidity. It may be the last thing you will ever do. I regret that it is necessary to inform you of this, but numerous students, particularly Alphas, have made this mistake. Generally it comes from those of you who have egos the size of solar systems, and you should be forewarned about this issue before something bad becomes of you."

Tally noticed that Laura and the blonde were silently laughing, and Otto and the Japanese man were looking at the floor.

The group split into boys and girls, and the girls were led to one side of the block and up a glass elevator. When they got off, Laura and the blonde woman stopped in a hallway lined with dozens of hand-activated doors.

"Ok. So you already met Laura, and my name is Shelby. You'll be seeing me and hearing about her," said the blonde woman. "These are your cells... uh... dorms. You'll be staying in these with one other person. They're a bit cramped, but they work. They're hand-activated, but you can switch it to eye recognition if you lose it." She seemed entirely sincere.

Shelby led the girls to the last cell on their side, right before the transition to the boys' side. She stopped and put her hand on the reader, causing the door to open.

"This is an average cell. Dorm. This happens to be the one I stayed in, X number of years ago.

"Oh, and for whoever gets this one, sorry about the, uh, burns. On the wall. In the shower," said Laura, looking a bit embarrassed. Looking inside, Tally saw that that statement wasn't entirely true. The bathroom itself was almost entirely black, and the walls coming from the bathroom were burned, too. "Who has this one?" Laura asked, flipping open her PDA. "Let's see... Michelle Fanchu and Natalya Malpense. Ha."

They rejoined the boys and headed to lunch. Most of the group got into the back of the line, but Nic bumped into a scrawny, first-year Techie and snagged a few of his sides. He munched on them while he was waiting, and Tally didn't even think the kid had noticed their absence. Sneaky little bastard, she thought. Well, not _little, _exactly.

The food was great. She ate all of her own and most of Zach's. The kid Tahir sat with them, but just glared at everyone through the whole meal. He didn't eat his meat. Michelle poked at her food, and when Tally asked if anything was wrong, she said that she was tired and needed a Red Bull.

The Russian lady came by.

"Michelle, I read your file, but I need to ask you about your skills. What exactly can you do?"

Michelle looked up from her food, a bit surprised, but then groggily began recounting all of her skills.

"Uh... I fight well, I pick locks, and I speak a bunch of languages." Dexter looked up. Oh, great, Tally thought.

"How many? I speak nineteen!" What a show-off.

"Good for you. I speak forty-three." Tally started laughing. _Finally. SOMEONE to combat his... ego the size of a solar system._ Raven looked impatient.

"Anything else, Michelle?"

"Other that the fact that I'm awesome? I have a natural poker face." She paused. "Is there anywhere I could get a Red Bull?" This took Raven aback for a moment.

"No. You'll just have to, as they say, suck it up. I'm not allowed to give you any of mine." She looked a bit apologetic. But Michelle didn't notice. All she heard was the fact that Raven had Red Bull. And it was somewhere on the island.

That was when the wheels in Michelle's head started turning.


	5. Chapter 5: You and Me

Red Bull.

Red Bull.

Red Bull.

Red Bull. Red Bull. Red Bull.

It was a constant throbbing in Michelle's brain. She'd had at least one every day since she was six, and once every six hours since she was ten. Gatorade had been her gateway drink, but once she'd had a taste of the liquid from the checkered can, she'd never looked back. Her attempts to stave the need before her induction to the school had been futile at best, and the simple fact remained.

She couldn't live without it.

Now that she'd found out that Raven had some, she'd do anything to get it.

There was some sort of commotion going on around her. Looking up, Michelle saw that they had moved back to the accommodation block. Dexter was off talking to Zach and Nic, and the ruckus was coming from Tally and Tahir.

"Malfoy."

"MalPENSE."

"I don't care. You've got the hair, and you've certainly got the honor."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Oh, great. They'd been here for an entire six hours, and they were already in disagreement.

"You Malfoys are all the same. Just because you've got the stupid genetic enhancements, you think you're better than everybody else." The point of the enhancements was to make you better than everybody else, Michelle thought. But she didn't say anything. Because she knew that those alterations did nothing to help common sense, something he'd undoubtedly bring up.

"I told you, my name is MalPENSE." Tally was losing this fight to the biggest idiot on the planet.

"Did you know that you come from the shortest villainous line in history? Two entire generations. The Kahn family has been naming their sons Tahir since before your grandfather's time. Oh, right. Your grandfather was a calculator. What's so special about you? You hear voices. You get nosebleeds every five minutes," Kahn spat. What a douche.

Tally leaned back in her armchair and closed her eyes for the briefest of moments before straightening herself out again. She spoke in a calm and even, but a bit amused tone.

"I heard you have abilities too. Why don't you demonstrate them for us? What is it you do again? Oh, right. You can-"

"SHUT UP!" Kahn screamed, lunging at Tally.

Michelle moved at lightning speed. She caught him in midair and swung him first around, then held him upside down high above her head. It was relatively easy, especially since she was five foot eight and he was four foot eleven. Almost as short as Zach. She, too spoke in a calm voice.

"Did you know that there are four thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight ways to combat an idiot who didn't see me coming? My favorite is number three hundred and eighty-four. It involves shoving a ball of dough down your throat and putting you in a hot room so that you suffocate as the bread rises." Kahn squirmed in her grasp. "Quit moving around, you little imbecile! The more you struggle, the more painful I make this!"

Tally looked at Michelle and caught her eye. _See if you can get him to scream,_ she thought, and sent the idea on. Michelle, hardly surprised by anything anymore, shook him around until he cried "STOP!". Michelle looked at Tally. _Not good enough. A long, girly scream. _So Michelle started walking towards the lavatories, still carrying Kahn.

"NO! NO! SOMEBODY HELP! AAAHHH!" He screamed. When he noticed that no one was coming to rescue him, he screamed even louder. Soon, the sound had a strange, echoing quality to it. All chatter in Accommodation Block Seven ceased. He kept screaming, even though Michelle had stopped and was looking at Tally with a curious expression. All of a sudden, the intercom came over the silence.

"Attention! Attention everyone! Please make your way to your quarters! There has been a security breach in the Genetics Department! DO NOT PANIC! Just stay calm!" Whoever it was, they didn't seem very relaxed, either.

Tally and Michelle were about to make their way to the residential portion of the block, but the way was interrupted by thousands of birds flocking in through the still-open cavern doors. Behind them were still more rabbits, deer, and mice. They swarmed towards Tally, Michelle, and Kahn, surrounding them on all sides.

Michelle dropped Kahn on the ground. She started backing away, but stopped. She looked at Tally, who was about to collapse from laughter. She then looked back at Kahn, suddenly understanding.

"So that's why you're a vegetarian. You have the same superpowers as Snow White."

Tally sat on her bed, laughing. She kept watching the video in her head. Kahn's expression… priceless. She turned to Michelle to say something, but stopped when she saw that she was asleep. Wait, no. She wasn't. She just had her eyes closed.

"I have the worst headache. I am going to die. I am going to die. I am going to die. I need… oh God." Michelle ran to the bathroom, stuck her head in the sink, and turned on the faucet. Tally followed and helped her walk back to the bed.

"I'm going to go get you some Advil or something. I'm sure they have some sort of medicine here." Tally turned to leave. Then she realized that she didn't know the way to the infirmary, as the map she'd seen earlier In the day had been of the other end of the school.

She pulled up a map on her computer screen, absorbed it, and left. As she walked, she saw orange-suited guards gripping small animals as they made their way back to the Genetics Department. When she arrived, she waited for a few minuted before a lady in a white apron splattered with blood approached her.

"Hello... My roommate suddenly has a serious headache and I was wondering if I could have some painkillers of some sort to give to her." The woman looked at her suspiciously. "No, we're not trying to distract you because we're planning some stunt. We just got here today."

"Then it's just the sleepers, kid. She'll get over it in a couple of hours," said the woman, clearly not caring about Michelle's condition.

"But-"

"Go back to your room. If she's not better in a few days, come back. In a few days."

Tally turned and left. On her way back, she noticed a sign labeled CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT. Okay, she thought, and entered. Students crowded around lab tables, arguing in fifteen-syllable scientific jargon.

She grabbed a few vials from a shelf and mixed them together to form a sleeping solution, one she'd acquired from the online library moments before. Tally walked back to the cell and entered.

"Michelle!" She called, peering around the tiny room. She was nowhere to be found. In the ceiling there was a vent, which had been popped in and hastily pulled back into place.

It hadn't been like that when she'd left.

Then Tally noticed that the image on her computer screen had changed, and that the map was zoomed in onto the portion labeled STAFF QUARTERS. _What could she possibly be looking for? _Tally thought, scanning the names on each room. One caught her eye.

OPERATIVE RAVEN

Michelle scooted her way through the ventilation tunnels, fighting a growing pain in her back that fought to take precedence over her already pulsing headache. Left, right, straight, right, left, left, straght, left, right. Then take the third shaft.

She peered into each room, trying to tell which quarters belonged to who. Finally, she saw a belt that had been set down on a small table.

It held dozens of shiruken.

Michelle reached into her back pocket and found a few small rocks. She selected two and dropped them through the grate, knowing that if Raven were in the room she would undoubtedly notice the sound of their impact with the floor.

After about three minutes of silence, she knocked the grate out of its place and dropped soundlessly into the room. She picked the pebbles off of the ground and shrugged her shoulders, drawing her arms up into her sleeves. Using the fabric to cover her fingers, she opened the refrigerator and removed two cans of Red Bull. She slipped them into her pockets and was about to explore the rest of the room when she felt an eerie feeling at the base of her skull.

Suddenly, she saw herself being caught and reprimanded by Raven. Outside the door, she heard a woman's voice speaking, as if saying goodbye to someone before entering the room. Michelle leaped up into the ventilation shaft and snapped it back into place just as the door opened. She sat in the shaft, panting. She knew what had happened. She'd developed precognition. She'd known she would someday. The only thing was, she didn't know which abilities she'd been assigned, she just knew she would get them, because she'd read about one other thing during her search in the basement.

Darkdoom Pharmaceuticals had twenty years ago begun producing drugs that expectant mothers could take that would bestow particular qualities on their child. The leader of the company, Nigel Darkdoom, had only made it available to GLOVE members. Originally, Michelle's mother had taken four, and later one more. This last one was almost too late, but it had been for the sake of the Malpense family. It was the only ability Michelle knew she would eventually develop.

Her ability to travel through time would eventually have been used to prevent the day, fourteen years ago, of the attack at Argentblum Chocolates.


	6. Chapter 6: Secrets

Tally paced around the tiny room, cursing under her breath again. They had been on the island for twelve hours, _twelve hours, _and already Michelle had wandered off to some random place without leaving any sort of note. Other than, of course, the map, and from what she'd seen of this Raven person there was no way she was going off to investigate THAT area.

Suddenly, there was a thump on the other side of the room and Tally turned to see Michelle drop down on her bed, slipping a silver-and-red can out of her back pocket. She watched in shock as her new roommate silently sipped the stolen drink with her eyes closed and a small smile on her lips.

'Where on earth did you get that?" She asked, sitting on Michelle's bed and grabbing her by her wrists. "Are you INSANE?"

"Guess what," Michelle asked, not avoiding the question, just too excited to care about it. "And don't say 'Answer the question, Michelle,' because that's what you were about to say. And don't ask 'How did you do that?' either, because I knew you were going to say that too. Great, you're going to ask anyways." Tally stared back at her in shock.

"How did you do that?" She said, at the same time as Michelle said:

"You can do your little talk-to-people-without-talking thing; I can see up to fifteen seconds into the future. This is the part where you ask, 'Well, what am I going to say now?' And I reply with some smart-ass comment that I'm too lazy to come up with. Anyways, my headache's gone."

Tally just looked at her.

"Here, I went to the Chemistry Department and made you this sleeping stuff. The nurse in the infirmary said the effects of the sleeper would wear off in a few hours. I'd suggest drinking it before your… condition gets any worse," Tally said, trying to not anger her, sure her friend was delusional from the combination of the sleeper and the energy drink. Supposedly, Red Bull didn't do anything to you, but Tally knew from experience how easy it was to conceal test results.

"Shit no," Michelle replied, shoving Tally's hand away with surprising force. "But save it, Malpense, 'cause we might need it later. Now it's time for dinner."

An insistent beeping came from the girls' Blackboxes. Tally flipped hers open to find a reminder that dinner was in ten minutes. Looking up, she saw that Michelle was already on her way out.

Dinner was uneventful, sortof. Two kids on the opposite side of the mess hall got into a fight, but as soon as Raven stood up they sat down and picked at their food in silence. Tahir piped up after about ten minutes.

"So…. What did you guys to do to get in?"

The group sat in silence and pushed their food around their plates. Tally decided that now would be a good time to begin the process of convincing everyone that she wasn't supposed to be here.

"I honestly have no idea. I mean, I'm not some sort of junior supervillain," She said, trying to look innocent. Dexter didn't get the point.

"Yes, Tally. Yes you are," he said pointedly.

_It was his fault, Dex. If he hadn't been such a douche... _ She thought.

"You still are."

_Okay, maybe a little. _Zach piped up after a moment.

"Wait, what _did_ you guys do to get in?" He asked, trying to not look too concerned.

"Ja, 'cause we are already knowing how Michelle did, and probably us," Nic laughed, then was cut off by a death glare from Michelle. "What? They will most likely be finding out in the very near future anyways."

Michelle's expression suggested that Nic's head would explode in a few moments. Tally, remembering how easily Michelle disabled Tahir, tried to distract the two possibly ex-friends.

"I'm pretty sure we were just taken because of our parents. I mean, they own MalInc, and they came here too. So they probably thought we'd show promise. Dex, pass the salt." Zach was about to protest to her admittedly extremely lame response when the salt was lightly tossed to Tally.

Without using his hands.

"Thanks, Dex," she said, inwardly surprised by his use of his telekinesis at the dinner table. He'd done it once back at the orphanage and had freaked out too many of the attendants, so he had refrained from displaying his abilities, and blamed the incident on an innocent kid a few seats away.

Dexter flicked his eyes towards Tahir, and Tally understood. They weren't the only ones with abilities, and he knew it. _Michelle. Precognition. Very limited,_ she thought, sending the idea on. He raised his eyebrows briefly, before regaining composure. He looked at Michelle. Again. Great, she thought. He's set his sights on another girl who has no idea what he's capable of.

Dexter couldn't keep his mouth shut. He just had to unravel what Tally had just fixed.

"So, Michelle, what DID you do?" You've just opened a can of worms, she thought, without telling him.

"Okay, Nic's going to make sure you end up finding out anyways, so I'd rather you heard it from me. See those two over there?" She pointed to Shelby and Wing. "They're my parents. They came here, and they're best friends with Tally and Dexter's parents. They're assassins, and I found out. The League tried to catch me before I could tell anyone, and I thought they were coming for Zach because he's related to the leader of GLOVE. So I fought back, and either disabled, maimed, or killed twenty-three different operatives sent to pick me up. Eventually they sent Raven after me, and she explained that it was me they wanted. But not before I'd told Zach and Nic. My parents trained under her, and I will too." She met eyes with everyone at the table. "Now you all have to tell me what you did, or I'll break every bone in your body."

Nero sat at the teacher's dining table, watching feed from a secret camera in one of the tables. He'd wanted to see exactly what happened with the Malpenses.

So that explains it, he thought when he heard Michelle's recount of the events. Just a misunderstanding, one that had killed four people. He wondered what to do about it. He remembered the Nigel Darkdoom incident, twenty-three years before. That had killed four of the guards. He hadn't punished anyone for that. Then he remembered how good Wing had been, after years of training with Raven. Michelle was at that level already, but she lacked her father's reluctance to take a life.

He'd have to do some serious thinking about what was to become of her.

Back at the table, Tally wrestled with whether or not to tell the others about her "audition." Luckily, Zach answered for her.

"So... Tally, why does your brother think you're some sort of evil genius?" She felt herself turning the approximate color of a tomato, which eliminated any chance of keeping her "parents" excuse.

"Oh, I don't know... where's the bathroom?" She, needless to say, already knew where it was.

"I'm not sure. Now answer the question," said Dexter, with an amused expression. _You suck,_ she thought.

"I dunno, Dex, why don't you tell everyone what you did? I'm sure they'd be glad to hear. I mean, it isn't as if breaking into the MalInc headquarters weren't all that interesting."

Dexter glared at her until his utensils started to drift off of the table. _They were going to find out anyways, _she thought. _You might as well tell them now. Surely you would've told Michelle anyways. _Tally got whacked in the side of the head with the salt shaker he'd just passed. _Ouch, _ she thought. That was when she remembered their conversation with their parents earlier in the day. Her other abilities usually only worked on AIs, but then again, Tally was sortof an AI herself. _Boys mature faster than girls, _Big Blue had said. There was one way that she might be able to determine whether or not Dexter would ever match her in skill. She visualized a purple version of herself flicking a booger at him.

"Ow!" Dexter exclaimed, reaching his hand up to his face to wipe away the substance that wasn't there. Tally snickered to herself. She decided against telling him exactly what had occurred. "Tally, what did you do?" Shi...oot, she thought.

"Nothing," she said, trying, again, to look innocent.

"You're an awful liar, you know that?" He said, whacking her with the salt shaker again. She visualized punching him in the nose, which caused him a lot of pain. He looked insane, as there had been no impact from anything material. "Would you quit that?" He said angrily.

"I told you, it's not me." She tried to keep from laughing.

"Your nose is bleeding."

Tally reached her hand up to her face, pulling it away dripping with crimson. She hadn't even noticed, it happened so often. She could see Dexter's eyes flicker for a second, as if he was about to throw something else, but the plate stopped in midair. He suddenly relaxed, then smiled. He was about to open his mouth to say something, when he stopped, with a confused expression on his face.

"Okay, who was that?"

"Pheromone manipulation," Tally explained to Michelle as they sat in their cell later that evening. "When I first started developing my abilities I looked up all of the superpowers in comic book history. Apparently my brother was affected by someone at our table. Probably Zack or Nic, because we already know what you, me, Tahir, and Dex can do." Michelle shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"I've known Zach and Nic for as long as I can remember., and I've never noticed either of them being able to do anything out of the ordinary. I mean, this morning I couldn't see the future. But I know I have four other abilities, and I only know what one of them are," she said, leaning back against the wall behind the bed. She'd already started pasting pictures up, portraits in Manga style of everyone she'd seen today.

"Well, maybe they show up after puberty, which would explain why you haven't noticed it in the boys, or why you just got your first today. And which is the one you know you're going to get?" Tally asked, a curious expression on her face.

"Time travel," Michelle said simply. She looked down at her shoes. "I was supposed to rescue you and your brother from... the accident. It happened when my mom was pregnant with me, so she took a special medicine that would give me that power."

Tally's eyes widened. "Did she use the Darkdoom Pharmaceuticals version?"

"Yeah, why?" Michelle sensed something wrong with the way Tally had said it.

"When you get that, make sure you don't use it, okay? Just promise me you'll never use it." Tally spoke urgently, and her nose had started bleeding again.

"What is it, Tally?" Michelle asked, moving over to her friend's bed and sitting next to her.

Tally got up and walked across the tiny room to her computer. She put a hand on the monitor and it whirred to life. Holo-lasers on the wall projected a scene into the room.

"What my brother did to get in... long story short, he broke into the MalInc Headquarters. He brought back a bunch of files that surprised us. One of which was about a project that was a collaboration between MalInk and Darkdoom. It would give certain children abilities that could be given before they were born. Most of them worked, but there was one that had effects awhile after. Really bad effects," She said as she walked around the room to the floating 'PLAY' button.

"Time travel," Michelle breathed, understanding her friend's concern for her use of the ability.

Thanks to new technology that could play video in holograms, the room was transformed into a doctor's office. A bald man sat in an individual room with a teenager. In the corner stood a man with stark-white hair, and his visitor's pass said "MALPENSE" in scraggly handwriting. He watched with a sad and somewhat desperate interest. The bald man cleared his throat.

_"This is subject _BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP _and this is monthly checkup nineteen. He was infused with vial _BLEEEEEEEEP _and so far he has been able to travel only limited distances in spacetime."_

The man, presumably Nigel Darkdoom, began checking blood pressure, heart rate, and so on, narrating everything. Suddenly, the boy's finger started to bleed. At first he didn't do anything, but as it got worse he started wrapping his arm in gauze.

Then the gauze started to disappear.

As more and more of the boy was sucked into some random point in time, the process was too slow, and he started to bleed to death.

The video stopped. Michelle thought it was because Tally didn't want to watch anymore, and Michelle didn't either, but when she looked over she saw that her friend had collapsed, blood pouring from her nose and eyes.

Michelle scooped up Tally and ran to the infirmary. The faster she ran, the more the other girl seemed to fall into unconsciousness. When she arrived, she spent five minutes convincing one of the nurses that this was a real emergency, not just a diversion for some prank. She'd expected better. Much better. Finally a real doctor came out and took her to a room, where he started checking blood pressure, heart rate... Michelle was reminded of the boy from the video, who doubtless hadn't survived the incident.

After a few minutes another nurse came and asked her what had happened.

"Well, she was showing me a video on the holoprojector, and then she just collapsed. Because she was downloading it from her head." The nurse looked at Michelle with a blank expression.

"She has special abilities." Michelle continued. "It's called..." She tried to remember the word Tally had used. "Technokinesis or something. No, that's not it..."

"Technopathy," came a voice from behind her. She turned to see Otto and Laura Malpense standing nearby in the hallway. Michelle remembered that the other purpose for their visit was that they were helping to install a material transport system that could take people from the island to anywhere on Earth in the blink of an eye, or vice versa. They'd probably heard about the incident.

"Yeah, that. And-"

"WHERE'S MY SISTER?" Michellle was cut off by Dexter, who had been walking by in the hallway when he'd seen the commotion. He was trailed by Nic, Zach, and Tahir. Michelle pointed to the glass-enclosed room where the doctor was standing over Tally, now looking up to see who had yelled.

Dexter tried to push past the nurses outside Tally's door, but they blocked his way. He started yelling at them, trying to make it to his sister. Finally, he turned and left, only to hurl a chair toward the glass, which seemed to be shatter-proof. The nurses were about to go after him, but Tahir spotted some lab rats nearby. He opened their cage and started doing some freaky opera thing, and they all ran towards the ladies, jumping up onto their clothes and causing them to run away in fear. The doctor bolted out of the glass-enclosed room, and blocked the doorway, syringe in hand, ready to try to knock Dexter out.

He looked angry.

Nic lumbered forward. All he did was smile at the doctor, and the doctor smiled back. Michelle realized that he must've been who had calmed Dexter during his fight with Tally at lunch. Nic held out his hand, and the doctor shook it, slowly, slowly.

Suddenly, a scene of the doctor breaking through Nic's spell flashed through Michelle's brain, and she moved lightning fast to pinch the side of his neck, causing him to collapse, unconscious.

Dexter ran into the glass room. He grabbed a kleenex and wiped the blood off of Tally's face but it was Zach who pushed him aside and laid a hand on each temple. He closed his eyes, and stayed motionless for for what could've only been a few seconds.

And then Natalya Laura Malpense woke up.


End file.
